Apparatus for the manufacture of a drinking vessel made of ice.



4 BHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented Jan. 5,1915.

H. D. P. HUIZBR. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A DRINKING VESSEL MADE OF ICE.

' APPLICATION FILED OUT. 22, 1908.

H. D. P. HUIZER.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE or A DRINKING VESSEL MADE OF ICE.

APPLIGATION FILED OCT. 22, 1908. Patented. 32111.5, 1915.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H. D. P. HUIZER. APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A DRINKING VESSEL MADE OF ICE.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 22, 190B.'

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

4 8HEETBBHEET 3.

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HENDRIX D. P. HUIZER, OF THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS.

APBAMT'IUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF A DRINKING VESSEL MADE OF ICE.

anner.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, 1915.

Original application filed July 5. 1907. Serial No. 382,352. Divided and this application filed October 22,

' I 1908. Serial No. 459,047,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENDRIK DOUWE lhn'rni: Hmznn, a subject of the Queen of the Netherlands, residing at No. 22 iiknna van Saxenstraat, The Hague, in thelmngdom of the Netherlands, engmeer, have inve'nted a certain new and useful Apparatus for the Manufacture of a Drinking Vessel Made of Ice, of which the following 18 a specification.

This invention relates to a drmking vessel made of ice.

Besides the cooling effect of the ice dllllking vessel. there is the further advantage that it can only be used once, so that 1t may be considered thoroughly hygienic, especially when made of distilled or boiled, and therefore germ-free, water.

The ice drinking-vessel can only last a short time but quite long enough to enable the user to consume its contents. The l1fe of the vessel can be lengthened not only by insulating it thermally by a paper 01' celluloid case, which at the same time makes it more comfortable to hold, but also by g ving it a special form and taking special precautions in making it. In the first place regard must be had to the fact thatthe water, which is frozen to form the dunkingvessel, always contains air and carbonic ac1d gas which affects the density of the ice and therefore the life of the vessel; the perforation of the ice occurs first at the place where air is inclosed. If the ice is free from air, the life of the vessel is prolonged so that it can stand with its contents for half an hour to an hour at ordinary temperature before it melts. The necessity for producing the'ice free from air involves the requirement that the air shall have an opportunity for escaping from the water during the freezing. This would not be difiicult were it not that another phenomenon presents itself during the manufacture of the drinking vessel, namely the cracking of the ice across the bottom of the vessel shortly after the latter has been made. This trouble can be prevented by giving the bottom an arched or curved form, more particularly at the union of the interior surface of the wall with the bottom. This curvature, together with the expulsion of air from the ice, can be secured by taking care that'the water freezes from the outsideinward in such a manner that the shell first formed and still containing water prevents this water from expanding upward so that the bottom of the vessel is frozen last. Under these conditions the arching of the bottom occurs spontaneously owing to the expans1on that occurs as the water passes into ice, and the air can escape through this water. At the same time the drinking-vessel receives the best form namely that of a. truncated cone with the smaller diameter at the base and with sides increasing in thickness from top to bottom. The last named feature not only insures the mode of freezing described above, but presents the advantage that the lower portion of the vessel does not collapse sooner than the upper portion. It is lmown that ice melts more qu1ckly under pressure, and as the lower parts of the walls are under higher pressure when filled with liquid than the upper parts, the bottom would tend to melt more quickly than the top and should therefore be thicker than the top. The larger amount of material at the lower part of the vessel is also of advantage because the liquid remains longer in this part of the vessel. In order to increase the impermeability of the ice the water may receive additions of such materials as agar-agar, gelatin or starch in quantities of about 1 grm. per liter. Too strong solutions make the ice friable. These substances form in the ice a regular web which more or less retains the water. Thatthere really is such a web can be shown by allowing the ice drinking-vessel to melt slowly in water. After it has melted the web can be seen floating in the water as a whitish mass having the shape of the melted ice vessel so that it appears as if the latter had not melted at all.

The process and apparatus according to this invention for producing ice drinkingvessels enable the vessels to be made dry, that is, without appreciable melting and therefore highly economically.

The present application which was originally included in my application filed July 5, 1907, Serial No. 382,352, relates to apparatus for carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the present invention which is a division of the copending application, Serial No. 382,352, filed July 5, 1907.

In the drawingsFigure l is a vertical section of a finished ice drinking-vessel with an insulating shell. Fig. 2 shows diagrammatically the freezing mold in vertical section, the left hand half of the figure showing the condition of the water serving to form the ice vessel before freezing and the right hand half the condition during the freezing. Fig. 3 is a part section of a modified form of the core. Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the mold containing the finished vessel and a modified form of the core, the latter being provided with a device for removing the vessel' from the core; the right and left hand halves of the figure show different modifications. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section through the piston on line AB of ig. 4. Fig. 6 is a vertical section showing another modification of the removing device. Fig. 7 is a vertical section of a further modification adapted for electrically heating the mold, and Fig. 8 is an elevation of a modified mold drawn to a reduced scale.

The ice drinking-vessel (Fig. 1) has the shape of a truncated cone, the smaller end of which forms the base of the vessel. The base is curved or arched preferably both inside and outside. The internal curvature is produced spontaneously by the peculiarity of the invention, the external curvature is due to the shape of the bottom of the mold. The external curvature is for the purpose of keeping the bottom of the ice vessel in a liquid state as long as possible; this is brought about by the fact that when the mold is introduced into the freezing bath, the curvature or kick in its bottom retains some air which prevents the immediate transmission of cold to the water. The sides of the vessel increase in thickness from the top downward. Preferably the vessel is inclosed in an insulating case 2 of paper, celluloid or the like.

For. producing the ice drinking-vessel the mold shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2 is used. It consists of a mold 3 and a core 4 which are kept coaxial by the flanges 5 and 6. The mold 3 is preferably of a material the thermal conductivity of which is greater than that of ice, such as copper or aluminium, while the core 4 is made of a material the thermal conductivity and coefficient of expansion of which are less than that of ice, such as porcelain, earthenware, or glass. The reason for this choice of materials is that the core must not expand too quickly or stick too firmly to the ice-vessel, in order that the latter may easily be removed from it. A rapid expansion of the mold, on the other hand, is desirable. The bottom of the core is of a form depending on several considerations. Firstly, the inner arching of the bottom must occur spontaneously; secondly, the air must be able to leave the water, and finally the ice-vessel must be held firmly by the core but must afterward be removable therefrom. For these purposes the bottom of the core is formed as a chamher 7 open at the bottom and closed at the top, constituting, as it were, a kind of diving bell; this chamber is internally cylin drlcal or slightly conical, and its walls 8 are rounded at their lower edges as at 9. The conicity of the mold 3 and that of the core 4 is such that the space between them increases in thickness from the top downward, so that the ice drinking-vessel is formed with sides thickenin downward; but the walls of both the mohT and the core are of uniform thickness. If now water is introduced into the mold 3 and the core 4 is inserted the water is pressed upward in the space between the two, and rises in the chamber 7'as far as hydrostatic pressure will allow it, a meniscus 10 being formed on the inner surface of the chamber. If the mold is now placed in the freezing bath 11, the solidification proceeds somewhat as shown in the right half of Fig. 2 at 12; the outer layer has become ice and has expanded by one-tenth of its volume, which is noticeable at the upper part at the inwardly inclined edge 13 and in the chamber 7 where the meniscus has'risen to 14. Intermediate positions of the raised water surface are shown by the dotted line 15 and the corresponding ice boundary by the dotted line 16. When the freezing has proceeded as far as shown on the right hand of Fig. 2, the ice closes the top of the space between the mold and the core while the shell of ice formed still contains water at the lower part. This water freezes gradually downward, the air bubbles are forced downward into the chamber 7 where they collect above the water. The chamber 7 allows the last water particles to assume the desired archlng; the air inclosed in the chamber has contracted in volume by cooling, thus allowing the water to rise so far in the chamber that at least the edge 9 is covered so that there is an inner gripping surface for the ice vessel on the core 4.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3 the core 4 has an upper extension 17 which serves to confine the water as soon as a thin layer of ice is formed so that the arching within the chamber 7 is increased, which isadvantageous in producing large or broad drinking-vessels. To prevent access of the external, generally warm, air to the interior of the core 4 and thus hindering the freezing on its outside, the core is preferably closed at the top; the air thus confined aids the thermal insulation of the wall of the core. This precaution is taken with all the apparatus hereinafter described. When the ice drinking-vessel is ready, the mold is removed from the freezing bath and left to the action of the outside temperature for some time, or else dipped in a slightly heated water bath, until the metal mold 3 has expanded enough to release the ice; the latter, however, still adheres to the core 4 by the part inside the chamber 7. In order to release the vessel from the core 4 the vessel may be rotated relatively to the core, the vessel being first provided with the insulating case 2 for better handling. Since the adhesion of the drinkin vessel to the core depends essentially on tie part within the chamber 7 and since the height of this part cannot always be exactly controlled, diliiculty often, arises when removing the drinking-vessel, and the constructions shown in Figs. 4 to 6 are designed to overcome this. The left hand half of Fig. 4 shows a ring 18 situated inthe bottom part of the core in which ring slides a piston 19 with a suitable packing 20. The interior of this piston constitutes the chamber 7, and in the top of the piston are openings 21 closed by a valve 22. The valve is carried by a rod 23 and is kept always on its seat by spring 25 placed between the piston and the collar 24 on the said rod. The latter extends through the cover 32 of the core 4, where it terminates in a handle 26 and is kept in its highest position by a spring 27, the said highest position being determined by the collar 28 on the rod 23., The mold 3 is gripped between the screw threaded rings 29, 30, while the porcelain core 4 is held between the ring 31 and the cover 32, a packing 33 being inserted between the porcelain and the ring 32. The modification shown in the right hand half differs from that just described in that the ring 18 is omitted and that for the screw rings 29, 30, 31, are substituted the flange ring 34 and the flange 35 of the core, the extension 36 of the mold 3 being clamped upon the flange ring 34 or cemented thereto and serving as a guide or support for the flange 35.

As described above, the adhesion of the drinking vessel to the core depends essentially on the inner gripping edge; in order to adjust this inner edge the piston 19 may be pressed down a little while the core is being introduced into the water, and then relaxed, so as to create a partial vacuum and cause more water to enter into the chamber 7 than would be the case solely under the hydrostatic pressure; in this manner a higher gripping edge is obtained. \Vhen the rod 23 is pressed downward, first the valve 22 opens and admits air from the interior of the core 4 through openings 21 into chamber 7 thus eliminating the suction which, even if only small, is exerted by this chamber; on further depressing the rod 23, the piston 19 is also depressed and pushes ofl the drinking-vessel. The action of the piston can .be aided or exchanged for compressed air, which is led in through pipe 37; the piston 19 may then serve only as a valve carrier. In this case the construction pipe in the bottom of can be simplified as shown in Fig. 6. Here there is a ball valve 39 in the top 38 of the chamber 7 which cuts off the latter from the pipe 40. This pipe 40 extends into cylinder 41, which is fixed to the cover of the core 4. In the cylinder moves a piston 43 held in its upper position by a spring 42, and by pressing down this piston air is forced into chamber 7 for removing the drinking vessel from the core. Obviously, the ball valve 39 may be at the top of the cylinder 41, while the pipe 40 may be in air-tight communication with the chamber 7.

It is sometimes advantageous that the mold containing the ice drinkingvessel should not be bath, and to this end the mold may be heated electrically for the purpose of expanding it and allowing the core with the adhering ice vessel to be lifted out of it. It is obvious that when such electrical heating is used, the

mold should not be in contact with the freezing agent during the heating. In order to avoid this the apparatus is so arranged that the freezing agent or medium can be removed from aroiind the mold as soon as the electric current is to take effect. For.

this purpose the mold is inclosed in a casing which forms a space adapted to be filled with and emptied of the freezing agent. For thermally insulating the said casing it is preferably surrounded by a second casing;-the space within one casing may then serve for admission of the freezing agent, while the space within the other serves for its escape. The freezing agent may be a saline mixture or a liquefied gas. The electrical heating of the mold may be effected in various ways; the mold can be made like the known electrical heaters by coating it with a layer of enamel wherein resistance removed from the freezing wires are embedded, or it can be surrounded with resistance wires inclosed in glass beads; or the mold may be closely surrounded by, but not in contact with, a cage of resistance wire held between two insulating rings, one above and the other below the mold. Preferably, however, the mold itself is made the resistance for the current by selecting a material which not only has a greater thermal conductivity than ice, but which also offers sufficient resistance to the current to allow of the necessary development of heat; for example any of the known alloys of nickel or manganese which afford sufficient resistance,may be used.

In Fig. 7 the mold 3 is surrounded by an enamel coating 44. wherein the resistance wires 44 are embedded. The current terminals are wires 45. The mold 3 is surrounded by a casing 46 affording a space 47 into.

which opens a cock 48. The second casing pipe 49 provided witha stop casing 46 is'protected by a 50 lagged externally with a suitable non-conductor of heat 51. The casing affords a space 52 connected with the inner space 47 by openings 53 and provided with an outlet 54' for the freezing agent. To start the freezing process the stop-cock 48 is opened and liquefied gas is allowed to flow through pipe 49 into the space 47; it evaporates at once and the gas passes through the openings 53 to the outer space 52 and thence through 54 to be returned to the circulation. In order that the bottom of the ice-vessel shall be the last part to freeze, the mold is provided with a protecting piece 55 at this part. The wires -15 pass airtight at 56 through the flange of the casing 46.

In Fig. 8 the mold is itself the resistance, being made for example, of a suitable alloy of nickel or manganese; the wires 57 serve to conduct the current.

Having thus described the nature of my. said invention and the best meansI know of carrying ,the same into practical effect,

I claim 1. An apparatus for making a drinkin vessel of ice comprising a conical mold and a conical core, the core having a greater conicity than the mold, and means for subjecting a body of liquid contained between the mold and core to a refrigerating action.

2. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold composed of a substance having a thermal conductivity greater than that of ice, and a core composed of a substance having a less thermal conductivity than ice.

-3. An apparatus. for makin drinkin vessels of ice comprising a mol compose of a material having a thermal conductivity greater than that of ice, and a core composed of a material having a less thermal conductivity and a smaller co-efiicient of expansion than ice.

4. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice having a space between them to receive the liquid which is to be frozen to form the vessel, the core having in its bottom a chamberwhich is open at its lower end and closed at its upper end, said chamber providing a space into which the water can expand while freezing to form the bottom of the vessel.

5. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold and a core, the core having in its bottom a chamber which is open at its lower end and closed at the top to provide a space into which the water can expand while freezing, the lower ed e of the wall of said chamber being roun ed. I

6. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold and a core, the core having 1n its bottom a chamber adapted to provide a space into which the water can expand while freezing, and a piston mounted to operate in said chamber to serve as an ejector for removing the drinking vessel from the core and also serving to create a partial vacuum in said chamber before the freezing of the water whereby the latter may enter said chamber.

7. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold and a core, the core being provided with a cylindrical chamber in its bottom, a piston fitted to operate in said cylindrical chamber and provided with a valve, said valve having means for opening it to facilitate removal -m vessel from the core.

8. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold and a hollow core closed to prevent entrance of atmospheric air thereto, and an air pump connected to the interior chamber formed-within the core.

9. An apparatus for making. drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold, a core provided at its lower end with a chamber into which the water may expand while freezing, a check valve controlling a passage communicating with said chamber, and an air pump communicating with said passa e.

I0. In. an apparatus-for making drinking vessels of ice, a mold composed of a material capable of being heated electrically for the purpose of facilitating the removal of the drinking vessel when formed therefrom.

11. An apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice comprising a mold, a core, and a casing surrounding the mold forming a chamber having an inlet and an outlet through which a liquid freezing agent can 12. An apparatus of the class described comprising a mold, an inner casing inclosing the mold, and an outer casing inclosing the inner casing, said mold and casings being rigidly connected at their tops and forming inner and outer spaces having intel-communicating passages whereby a freezing agent may enter and circulate within one casing and then circulate through the other'casing before its escape.

13. In an apparatus for making drinking vessels of ice, a mold coated with a layer of enamel and having electrical resistance wires embedded therein.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

D. P. HUIZER. 1.5.

- Witnesses:

' KRAUSER LACACTRESSE. [n s.]

W. v. FLOESEN KORNDORFFER. [1,. s.] 

